The International Athlete
Cross-border NIL, tax, visas, and the two-entity model
Tens of thousands of international athletes play college and professional sport in the US, and when the money arrived they found the playbook everyone else uses does not fit them. Their visa limits what they can do, their income is taxed in two countries at once, and the usual advice (form an LLC and route the money through it) can make it worse. This guide explains why the ordinary structures fail, what the visa actually allows, how the three-layer tax picture works, and the two-entity structure that holds up when an immigration officer, a tax authority, and a school compliance office all look at once.
“A structure that only works if nobody reads it is not a structure. It is a time bomb.”
Brandon Leopoldus, Esq.
Get the Playbook
What's Inside
43 Pages. 8 Sections. Plain Language.
- 1The wall, and why the domestic playbook fails
- 2The visa reality
- 3The tax picture: three layers, plus the jock tax
- 4The two-entity model and sequencing
- 5Three ways to paper the deal and residency
- 6The advisor bench and the intake
- 7What's inside the structure, and getting paid
- 8Sport by sport, the school view, and the first 90 days
This playbook is educational. It is general information, not legal, tax, or investment advice for your specific situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Leopoldus Law, APC.